Tuesday, 15 April 2014

Game 43: The Secret of Monkey Island - Deadly Piranha Poodles

Guybrush Threepwood Journal Entry 2:"I've got to get my hands on some coin! The local store has a sword and a shovel for sale, both of which could really aid in completing my trials, yet there's no way I can afford them! There's also a shifty looking weirdo on the street corner selling maps to the treasure, but once again my lack of coin is blocking my path to piracy. At least I know where the Governor lives, but getting past her vicious dogs could be tricky. Oh well, the creepy voodoo lady said my journey would be long. I'll just have to keep trying..."

Ah...I forgot all about the LucasArts cutscenes!

I’m still very much in the exploration phase of Monkey Island. My first post was taken up almost entirely by the game mechanics and basic story introduction, so I’ll try to push some ways forward with this one. As I stepped out of the SCUMM Bar, aware that I needed to pass The Three Trials if I had any chance of becoming a pirate, I was witness to the game’s first cutscene. “Meanwhile, deep beneath Monkey Island, the ghost pirate LeChuck’s ship lies anchored in a river of lava.” That’s right, one of the most famous villains in gaming history was introduced right here, scheming aboard his ghostly ship! Suitably, his first words are “Ah, there’s nothin’ like the hot winds of hell blowin’ in your face. It’s days like this that make you glad to be dead.” It’s in this cut scene that we’re also introduced to LeChuck’s first mate, the one-legged skeleton, Bob. We quickly learn Bob’s origin story as LeChuck asks him if he too feels glad to be dead: “Oh yes sir. I feel so lucky that you happened to capture my ship, then murdered me and everyone on board...yes sir...lucky.” This is the type of humour that I love, and it comes thick and fast whenever these two are on screen. In fact, it’s really not very difficult to tell that both The Secret of Monkey Island and The Pirates of the Caribbean came from the same source, as Hector Barbossa and LeChuck have more than a little in common.

You're just not evil unless you have a ghost pirate ship anchored in a river of lava!

Especially when you don't have one!

Bob has clearly disturbed LeChuck for a reason, and that reason turns out to be Guybrush. “Well, you see, we might have a problem on Melee Island. There seems to be a new pirate in town. Actually he’s a pirate wannabe. Young. Inexperienced. Probably nothing to worry ‘bout. Don’t know why I bothered you with it. I’ll have him taken care of myself.” LeChuck isn’t entirely satisfied with that solution though, and decides to take care of the situation himself. “My plans are too important to be messed up by amateurs.” With that, I was thrust back in control of Guybrush, knowing that I now had an undead pirate pursuing me! I walked to the right of screen until I reached the main street of the town. There I found a shifty looking character standing on a corner, with a parrot on his shoulder. I wandered up to talk to him, and he had the following to say: “Excuse me, but do you have a cousin named Sven?” I chose to answer “What is that? Some sort of code?”, to which he answered “Of course it’s a code, you idiot...never mind.” Clearly I wasn’t the idiot, as when I approached him a second time I was able to totally fool him with the dialogue option “My cousin Sven sends his regards.” The moron was then willing to do business with me, opening up his jacket to reveal a bunch of maps. “You want to buy a map to the Legendary Lost Treasure of Melee Island? Only one in existence. Rare. Very rare. Only 100 pieces of eight.” I of course didn’t have any money, so had to decline his offer for now.

I'm pretty sure pirates don't take baths anyway.

Ah I see! Well in that case...

Is the trademark symbol a joke or were LucasArts really trying to protect their fictional property?

Making my way further into the main street, I was confronted by a small company of pirates known as the “Men of Low Moral Fiber”. There was a rat sitting in front of them, and making any attempt to interact with it was met with threats of physical violence from one of the crew. I asked them why they were sitting on a corner, and not “on a ship, looting, pillaging, sacking, that sort of thing”. They responded as expected, claiming that there were “some UNNATURALLY talented pirates in the area right now”. Clearly LeChuck’s presence was making all the other pirates in the area nervous! I can’t remember if it has any relevance to the game’s main story, but talking about the rat caused one of the men to tell me a tale about a bunch of monkeys that crewed a ship all the way to Melee Island from Monkey Island. Once that was completed, I questioned the troupe about the shifty looking man that was selling maps on the corner. “Wanna buy a map, eh? OUR maps are top quality, not like the birdcage liners you get from that clown across the street. No, just kidding. These are actually copies of the minutes of the last meeting of the Melee Island PTA. Can’t even GIVE them away. Want one?” Never one to turn down the addition of an item to my inventory, I decided to see if I could make an even better fist of it. “No, but I’ll take one if you give me two pieces of eight.” Unsurprisingly, given the intelligence level of the pirates I’ve met so far in the game, they accepted, resulting in me gaining both the minutes and a couple of coins.

It's great to be able to say whatever you want to, with no fear of repercussions.

My progress is assisted by the fact the game's pirates have the IQ of a goldfish.

Moving my cursor around the screen at this point revealed that there were numerous doors that I could enter. Some experimentation revealed that most of these doorways rather impossibly led to others elsewhere on the screen. Walk through a door on the left and reappear through one on the right! Still, there was one entrance that led somewhere of interest, as I found myself in a room containing various voodoo paraphernalia. Dead chickens hung from the ceiling, and the shelves were lined with jars of bat drippings, boxes of assorted scales, cat knuckles, and a shaker full of monkey flakes. Guybrush wasn’t willing to touch any of it, and who could blame him! However, on the table I discovered a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle, and this item I was able to pick up. To the right of screen I came upon a large dark skinned woman sitting before a bubbling green cauldron of sorts. “What may I help you with, son?” I had quite a few options at this point, but I decided to own up about the chicken I’d just stolen. “Aaaahhhh, I sense the guilt of stealing my chicken grows. Take it. It’s yours.” This answer concerned Guybrush, and he asked why she was willing to give away the strange device. Perhaps it was jinxed with an ancient voodoo curse? Her answer was simply that the pulley squeaks, which made me chuckle. At this point the voodoo lady apparently figured out that my name was Guybrush Threepwood, at which point our greedy protagonist demanded to know his future. “Am I going to be rich?”

Well seriously, who puts a pulley system inside a chicken?!

She's good...but far from perfect.

The cauldron began to rise out of the floor, soon revealing itself to be in the shape of a huge blue skull with piercing red eyes. My fortune was read to me… “I see you taking a voyage, a long voyage. I see you captaining a ship. I see a giant monkey. I see you inside the giant monkey. Your journey will have many parts. You will see things better left unseen. You will hear things better left unheard. You will learn things better left unlearned.” Guybrush demanded to know more details, but the mysterious woman denied him: “NO! The time is not right to know. When you know your purpose, come see me. I will let you know then.” With that, the cauldron descended back into the floor, and the voodoo lady simply vanished before my eyes!!! Departing her creepy abode, I made my way through the archway beneath the large clock at the end of the main street. I was given a bird’s eye view of my new location, which contained a large building, a church, an alleyway leading off beneath them, and what looked to be a prison. As soon as I arrived, someone could be heard (not literally of course, as the game has no voice acting) tempting me to enter the alleyway. “Psssst. Come over here.” I decided, since I was standing right next to the entrance, to enter the building to my right before putting myself into what would likely be a dangerous situation. The building turned out to host a store, with a grumpy old man attending the counter.

Oh god, this reminds me of Les Manley! Aaarrgghhhh!!!!!

Yep! It's Madame Zarmooska!

Well, sure! I can't think of any reason not to!

Moving my cursor around the room revealed I could interact with a shovel, a safe, a handle on the safe, and a sword. Given that two of the Three Trials I had to pass were defeating the Sword Master and discovering a legendary lost treasure, the shovel and the sword seemed very useful. I took a closer look at them and found them to be the “DIGMASTER – The only shovel for serious treasure-hunting enthusiasts” and the “SLASHMASTER – When you want a sword as sharp as your wit.” I picked them both up and walked to the counter to see how much they would set me back, knowing full well that I wouldn’t be able to afford whatever the asking price was. Before I did that though, I noticed one of my dialogue options was “I’m looking for the Sword Master of Melee Island.” I was pretty keen to find out where I could locate this so called Sword Master, so I took that option. “The Sword Master of Melee Island? Hmmm…I don’t know…nobody knows the whereabouts of her secret hideout…nobody except me. I’d have to go and ask her if it’s okay to show you the way. Hmmm…I guess I could hike all the way over there…ONCE,” The old man put a “Ring bell for service” sign on the desk and left the building, stopping to tell me in no uncertain terms not to touch anything. I figured this would be a good time to check out the safe, so made my way upstairs. The large box had “Davey Jones Lockers: The last word in theft-, fire-, and grog-resistant storage devices” marked on it, and the handle had “Get a handle on your savings with GRIPMASTER handles.”

I imagine this sword would be useless for the pirates I've met so far.

I keep warning people not to tell me that!

I tried opening the safe, but wasn’t at all surprised to find it locked. I turned the handle a few times, and despite a strange noise being heard when it reached a north position, couldn’t achieve anything. I’m really surprised how little I remember from playing Monkey Island as a kid. Parts like this are just completely gone from my memory! I can only assume there’s a specific “combination” to open the safe, but I have no idea what’s in there. Giving up, I tried to leave the store with the sword and shovel still in my possession, only for the old man to suddenly reappear. “Caught you, you little thief! Maybe you’d like to pay for those?” I asked him how much each of them cost, and he informed me that the sword would be 100 pieces of eight, the shovel 75, but since I couldn’t afford either of them, I put them back in their original places and departed. I still had the alleyway, the church and the prison to check out, so I figured it was time to see who’d been trying to draw me into the alley. As Guybrush walked into it, he called out “Hello? Anybody in here? HELLO???” There didn’t appear to be anyone there, but then a bald headed pirate-looking man entered the alleyway the same way I had. “You know, bad things could happen to a person in a dark, deserted alley like this one. And at this time of night, nobody would be around to see it.” This seemed a threat to me, so I chose to respond with “Yeah, and bad things happen to people who sneak up on other people from behind.”

Uuuummmmmmmmmmm no!

Please don't let the clown come to life! Oh please!

Yeah, like they might...um...have a chicken with a pulley in it thrown at them!

The guy clearly wasn’t impressed by my attitude, but I decided not to back off. “I’m Guybrush Threepwood, and I’m a mighty pirate.” It was then that the potential combatant informed me of his identity: “I’m the sheriff around here. Sheriff Fester Shinetop. Take it from me – This is a bad time to be visiting Melee Island. A very BAD time. My advice to you is to find somewhere else to take your vacation. Somewhere safer.” The Sheriff left me feeling somewhat uncomfortable, but I figured I should concentrate on examining the alleyway. Who had called to me earlier? Surely it wasn’t the Sheriff?! I looked around, but could only find a poster for the circus on the wall and a sign on a door that read “Employees Only”. I chose to move onto the church, rather than stand around with nothing to do. Strangely, after entering the church, I found there was nothing to do there either! I could walk down the aisle, but pixel hunting didn’t reveal anything at all that I could interact with. I made my way back out onto the street, and then entered the last remaining building on the screen, which looked to be a prison. On entering it I found that my assumption was correct! There were two cells, with a rat wandering around in one and a man pacing back and forth in the other. I didn’t seem to be able to do anything with the rat, so I focussed on the prisoner.

What came first? The name or the shinetop?

Either I didn't pixel hunt well enough or whatever happens here happens later.

What's the point of putting bars on the windows and then leaving the front door open!

As I approached him, he pleaded with me: “You gotta get me out of here! I’m a victim of society.” Guybrush proclaimed that the man must also suffer from halitosis, as he clearly had shocking breath. “Hey, it’s hard to keep my breath minty-fresh when there’s nothing to eat in here but rats.” I tried giving the guy some stewed meat, but he responded with “I don’t want anything but my freedom...and maybe a breath mint.” I couldn’t think of anything else to do, so I departed the prison and walked through the archway to the left of the bird’s eye screen. I was now following a very dangerous looking path, which wound its way around a cliff face, ending at a mansion. On arrival it was clear that this house belonged to Governor Marley, since the dogs I’d been warned about were tied up out the front. However, they weren’t the large terriers I’d expected. Marley’s dogs were nothing but small yapping poodles! Still, any attempt to get past them to the mansion’s entrancefailed, as Guybrush refused to go near the canines, no matter how fluffy. In fact, trying to interact with them revealed that they were “deadly piranha poodles”, proving that looks can often be deceiving. Interestingly, I was able to throw the stewed meat to the dogs, but they simply ate it, with no apparent benefit for me. I still wasn’t able to get past them, making me wonder whether I’d just wasted the meat for nothing. Despite knowing there are no dead ends in The Secret of Monkey Island, I decided to restore my game anyway and continue my exploration elsewhere. Join me in a few days to find out how I fared...

You could at least floss with the whiskers!

Wouldn't want to try to get home after a big night!

And you want to be a pirate!!!???

Session Time: 0 hours 30 minutesTotal
Time: 0 hours 50 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and
Companion Assist Points: I've written a set of rules
regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any
comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that
no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring
one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really
obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this
instance, I've not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!

I think that the issue with the MI1 version of LeChuck, broadly, is actually that the majority of times he appears he's on a backgrounds that he blends in too well against. Dark blue sprite on dark blue background will always look pretty crap, and the majority of times he shows up he's never allowed to stand out (at least in his small form - I can barely remember if he ever showed up in a close up form!)

The special edition Lechuck looks totally different. I actually preferred the see-through style Ghost Pirate rather than the Special Edition one that looks more like a skeletal zombie than a ghost to me.

And a word on voice acting: The voices in the special edition are really good, with many voice actors reprising their roles from the later Monkey Island (TM) games. There are very few moments where it was obvious the text was only meant to be read, and it felt like the voices always belonged there.

The music in this game is so great. The introductions of LeChuck and the Voodoo Lady are accompanied by a couple of catchy tunes that reoccur throughout the series. I think even Stan has his own theme.

Also, you know you have a winner when even inventory items are memorable (with the notable exception of Les Manley. I guess the concept of a portable dream is memorable, but for all the wrong reasons). I'm talking about the rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle, of course. I always found it hilarious. I even think I once owned a rubber chicken keyring, pulley and all. You never know when you might need one.

And on steam there are....more hidden object games. Man, there are a lot of those things coming out, and I'm glad that Steam User Tags are so good at spotting them.

Moebius: Empire Rising is also on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/264520/

There is a new adventure game called "Lost Civilization" out however: http://store.steampowered.com/app/264580 A point and click: Race to unearth the mystery of a forgotten civilization and rescue your kidnapped fiancé in this atmospheric adventure, suitable for beginners and diehards alike, which features a haunting blend of puzzle-solving and investigation. (2 New Games, 12 sales to date.)

I particularly like: "And so begin their adventures, as they attempt to identify a woman who might be a bit like some other woman from history, for a reason so stupid that upon its reveal my brain crawled out of my head, into a corner, and shot itself."

If I ever decide to run a blog like this, I think it would be interesting to do an A-B-A-B structure, with a new game (the most recent one?) followed by an old game and back and forth, to really maintain a grounding in the current level of adventure game, and contrast the older ones, see which ones rise to the top and which one plummet.

Just thought I'd mention that I really enjoyed Moebius. I just finished it, and thought the plot was fine (I am fairly good at suspending disbelief though and don't care if something's realistic as long as it's consistent within itself)

I also quite liked the investigation style that that reviewer hated.

There is a very weird bug though that makes the walking animation ridiculously strange if your monitor's refresh rate is above 60Hz. With many reviews mentioning this walking animation I'm guessing the developers are now really regretting not sorting this out before release.

As a whole I'd give the game a 7 out of 10 and hope that the bad reviews don't stop the chances of it getting a sequel.

And speaking of Kickstarter, I've been emailed by the team creating The Weird Story of Waldemar the Warlock. I wish I had time to interview them, as this one does look like it could be really good. Black humour and classic horror are both right up my alley!

Also on Kickstater, here's a very ambitious project...https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adammayhem/urban-explorer-adventure-exploration-game?ref=discoveryA post-apocalyptic Lara Croft (minus the DD boobs; what a crying shame), anyone?

Maybe you should wait to post the next update until you actually solve a puzzle, Trickster. :D

I started playing the 2009 version, and I was happy to learn from the comments here that you can transfer between the updated graphics and VGA with F10. That's a pretty great feature! Especially how it seamlessly transitions in-scene.

I'm wondering what the first puzzle to get you a bit stuck is, and if it's the same as the one I got stuck at.

Did I misread? I recall Trickster saying Monkey Island was one of the glaring holes in his adventure gaming history. I still haven't played the game yet, darn work schedule. Definitely going to make good progress this weekend though.

No, I specifically asked him in the The Year That Was 1990 post what adventure games he's played before, and Monkey Island 1 was included: http://advgamer.blogspot.fi/2013/09/the-year-that-was1989.html?showComment=1378943421144#c3906974115885460630

Trickster said sarcastically that he'd never heard of it in the Year Ahead 1990 post, maybe that confused you.

*DING DING DING* NEW GAME: Dreamscapes: The Sandman - Premium Edition: http://store.steampowered.com/app/289260 Very pretty art. Looks kinda like it might be a hidden object game, but I see an Inventory in one of the screenshots and it doesn't yet have any user tags.

Playing as a volunteer, offered to help the mad professor, you'll come to a bad dream of comatose girl Laura. Find Laura got lost in the world of dreams. Dispel girl’s nightmares. Collect the stolen and destroyed Dream catcher, defeat the Sandman and help Laura to wake up in the real world. (3 new games, 12 sales)

Now, these aren't sales, but I thought you lot might want to know about updates to adventure games. I'm not getting paid for these, but I am now busking.

First up, a little known game called Broken Age. They have added controller and touch support for it, if you want to play it on a tablet or Steambox. Also, they allow remapping, as all games should.

Guise Of The Wolf: If any of you bought this before I warned you off, or are Plan 9 From Outer Space Fans, GFTW now has Steam Trading Cards (Meh, but you can sell them on the marketplace. I've gotten almost $5 that way.) It also added an improved texture pack (Marked 1 of 3) and normalized the game audio, something that Jim Sterling ranted about a bit. Oh, and they have opened the workshop, in case you want to mod this game for some reason.

Cypress Inheritance: The Beginning: This is undergoing regular changes since it came out on March 10th. On the 11th they added more graphics options and updated the A.I. (Adventure games have AI?) They then waited two full days to add A I adjustments, player adjustments AND lighting Adjustments, and then added additional content and an updated UI the same day. They then waited until the 21st to add more new content, a new menu and yet more AI adjustments. (Has anyone played this? What does the AI do? This is an adventure game, right?) Then on the 24 they fixed the framerate issues and did some graphics and sound tweaking. Did they finish this game? Well, better then leaving it buggy I guess. Five days later they did some HUD tweaking. Finally, on the 28th they announced they will be adding achievements soon, and that they've improved the grab controls.

SO yeah, if you got it at launch, you might want to give it another try.

New sale! Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal" http://store.steampowered.com/app/283980 From way back in on 17 Oct 1997.

In fact, this seems to be one of several kids adventure games on sale: Putt-Putt® Joins the Parade is also on sale. I think I played this one, actually. http://store.steampowered.com/app/283920/

Also Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside. I recognize the character, but have no idea why as I'm sure I didn't own the game. Possibly he had books about him?

Also: Freddi Fish and The Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds http://store.steampowered.com/app/283940 It seems I've been missing these ones since they aren't marked as adventure games on Steam.

*************Also, a new adventure game! Robin's Quest******The only description of this on Steam is “Nobility is not a birthright. It’s defined by one’s actions." That and screenshots. I'm sure that is a good sign, right? http://store.steampowered.com/app/292880/

Looking at these screens made me want to play MI again in all the other versions I haven't tried yet. Like the EGA version and the Japanese FM Towns version. Having the pirates speak in Japanese is going to be super weird and super fun!

What's Your Story?

My home country is…My age is…The first adventure game I played was…My favourite adventure game is…When I’m not playing games I like to…I like my games in (a box, digital format)…The thing I miss about old games is…The best thing about modern games is…The one TV show I never miss is…If I could see any band live it would be…My favourite movie is…One interesting thing about me is…